Cannot find the user folder on unbootable windows drive.

[jake765111]

I have been trying to recover data from a windows 11 laptop that was stuck in a boot loop. However when I plug the drive into my computer I can only see the users, administrator and public. 

I have tried viewing hidden files but they where empty. 

I have done this process many times on windows 10 so I'm a little perplexed why I can't see my user folder. 

 

Its a 512G m.2 intel octane drive. Shows mostly full, so I know its on there somewhere. 

Any suggestions? TIA!

[Kilrah]

-> Moved to Troubleshooting 

 

Did you look in the folders? Sometimes especially on prebuilts the Administrator folder is used.

[Pandur]

Check the size of the folders. Start by checking the size of the user folder itself. It is possible to move the user folder elsewhere, so that could not be the actually used location.

[jake765111]

I did check the folders. The admin one has 200mb of files but that was it. others are empty. 

I also searched the whole drive for a folder with my username. 

[Kilrah]

Was that the only drive in the system?

 

You might want to use a tool like grandperspective to graphically see where space is used

[jake765111]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Was that the only drive in the system?

 

You might want to use a tool like grandperspective to graphically see where space is used

Yes its only one drive. 

Ok, ill check it out. Thanks!

[Montana One-Six]

Had the same issue a few years ago trying to copy drive contents from an old Laptop (Win10) to a new one (Win 10). I tried looking at the contents with ubuntu to sort what I needed and what not while setting up the new machine but I wasn't able to see the files (basically what you described). So I just waited until the new one was set up and connected the old drive via a SATA to USB adapter to the new Laptop and I could see and copy without any issues.

 

Which lead me to believe that you cannot access everything on a Windows drive without using Windows. I could be wrong but that's what I thought after trying a few things with ubuntu and nothing worked but when I used windows I didn't have any issues.

[Kilrah]

Yep that would be the next step, use a Windows machine and not a mac.

[Pandur]

41 minutes ago, Montana One-Six said:

Had the same issue a few years ago trying to copy drive contents from an old Laptop (Win10) to a new one (Win 10). I tried looking at the contents with ubuntu to sort what I needed and what not while setting up the new machine but I wasn't able to see the files (basically what you described). So I just waited until the new one was set up and connected the old drive via a SATA to USB adapter to the new Laptop and I could see and copy without any issues.

 

Which lead me to believe that you cannot access everything on a Windows drive without using Windows. I could be wrong but that's what I thought after trying a few things with ubuntu and nothing worked but when I used windows I didn't have any issues.

Good point. Neither the Linux nor MacOS NTFS drivers are perfect. Encryption is also a possibility.

[jake765111]

On 5/17/2022 at 11:02 AM, Pandur said:

Good point. Neither the Linux nor MacOS NTFS drivers are perfect. Encryption is also a possibility.

 

On 5/17/2022 at 10:20 AM, Kilrah said:

Yep that would be the next step, use a Windows machine and not a mac.

 

On 5/17/2022 at 10:19 AM, Montana One-Six said:

Had the same issue a few years ago trying to copy drive contents from an old Laptop (Win10) to a new one (Win 10). I tried looking at the contents with ubuntu to sort what I needed and what not while setting up the new machine but I wasn't able to see the files (basically what you described). So I just waited until the new one was set up and connected the old drive via a SATA to USB adapter to the new Laptop and I could see and copy without any issues.

 

Which lead me to believe that you cannot access everything on a Windows drive without using Windows. I could be wrong but that's what I thought after trying a few things with ubuntu and nothing worked but when I used windows I didn't have any issues.

Ok. Thankyou everyone!